1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of recording devices, and more particularly, to a device that is attached or incorporated into a book and that records, archives and plays back multiple discrete messages.
2. Description of the Related Art
During the past several years, many new types of electronic products have been developed which are capable of recording and then delivering a non-discrete or single audio message when activated. This technology has been used in conjunction with photo frames, children's books (where pre-recorded messages are generally used) and other products. The use of this technology has allowed one to play pre-recorded discrete messages or a single message or to record generally non-discrete messages associated with a picture or other memorabilia.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,246 issued to Jeng discloses a sound illustrated book which identifies the opened page and plays a pre-recorded message related to the particular page. U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,492 issued to Skidmore discloses a photo album which includes a tape player. The tape player allows one to describe the pictures in the photo album rather than give a written description, and to record them in a non-discrete manner; i.e., wherein one recording immediately follows the one before it so that there is no way to listen to a message without listening to or fast-forwarding over all of the messages that came before it.
U.S. Pat. NO. 5,577,918 issued to Crowell discloses a message delivery device which saves a single re-recordable message. The device can also be attached to various products. U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,544 issued to Manico et al. discloses a photo album module that records, stores and plays back audio messages. The device is activated by a plurality of photo detectors mounted in the album cover.
Although the above devices may function adequately for their stated purposes, it is believed that none is a fully satisfactory solution to the need for providing an inexpensive, easy to use message recording device that stores a plurality of messages and may be coupled to a pre-existing books or integrated into a new book. Furthermore, these prior art devices do not fulfill the objective of providing a versatile message recording device that enables and disables the recording function, thus allowing messages to be permanently archived. These prior art devices also do not disclosed a method for recording and archiving a large number of discrete messages, without requiring the construction of an unduly large device not suited for use in conjunction with a book, photo album, or similar object. These devices also do not illustrate an apparatus for efficiently preserving a written record identifying the discrete recorded messages. A need therefore existed for a device that is capable of performing these functions. The present invention answers these needs, and provides other related advantages.